Abu Sandeep: Memoirs from a quarter-century in fashion

Do Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have stories to tell. There's that one time, with an X-rated movie...

After a quarter century of dramatic style and the recent release of a glossy tome, India Fantastique, designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla are experiencing flashbacks from a fashion journey that's taken them right around the world. There's some outrageous adventures here to tell, involving killer heat, movie sets and last days in Vegas. We're so listening.

DEATH VALLEY,CALIFORNIA

“It’s a heavily embellished look with gunmetal beads and jewelled tassels, against floating multilayered and panelled chamois satin. Inspired by

Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, we shot in the middle of the California desert, and the heat was a killer,” says Khosla.

LONDON, ENGLAND

“In a bandhini and gold zardosi sari, she sits like the Queen of Sheba. We shot this in the same house that was in The King’s Speech.

While we were there, an X-rated movie was being shot in the basement. Quite a different world from our own!” laughs Khosla.

NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

“The beaded gold body of our dress had metres and metres of satin chi on. The final shot on our last day in Vegas was taken

on an overbridge. A sudden gust of wind took us by surprise and created this ‘caged bird caught in the Vegas skyline’ image,” says Jani.

JAIPUR, INDIA

“The elephants were the easiest models to work with, and seemed to possess an innate vanity. We insisted that they be as comfortable

as possible. They gave us their poseur best, and taught the models a thing or two about working the camera,”